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Your “Science” Dollar At Work

2011-08-20T02:55:00.000-05:00

http://www.shotinthedark.info/wp/?p=21840

Your “Science” Dollar At Work

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Mitch Berg

NASA “scientists” have skipped past holding “Nuremberg Trials” for “denialists”, have gone directly to invoking Krugman’s alien attack:.

It may not rank as the most compelling reason to curb greenhouse gases, but reducing our emissions might just save humanity from a pre-emptive alien attack, scientists claim.
Watching from afar, extraterrestrial beings might view changes in Earth’s atmosphere as symptomatic of a civilisation growing out of control – and take drastic action to keep us from becoming a more serious threat, the researchers explain.

No, you read that right. NASA. Not Art Bell.

Isn’t that how your smug atheists describe religion? ”Do what we tell you or some extra-terrestrial pseudo-mystical being will smite you?”

Just saying.

13 THOUGHTS ON “YOUR “SCIENCE” DOLLAR AT WORK”

Troy on August 19, 2011 at 8:09 am said:
One facet of beauty in small government: fewer stupid people in government.
This ranks up there with the CDC “zombie apocalypse” plan, but neither is as bad as the years of research and writing kicked off there because someone used the phrase “gun epidemic”.
golfdoc50 on August 19, 2011 at 8:27 am said:
If you want something that’s wet-your-pants hilarious, read the entire paper:http://bit.ly/r01d31
Honestly, I thought it was from The Onion at first.
Settled science, indeed!
Kermit on August 19, 2011 at 8:54 am said:
Apparently folks at Obama’s NASA think the Keanu Reeves version of The Day the Earth Stood Still was a documentary.
nerdbert on August 19, 2011 at 9:26 am said:
I worked at NASA. In one of their research divisions.
Trust me, they’re not all rocket scientists by any stretch of the imagination.
The core problem is that it’s rare to get a government employee at NASA who’s anything other than a program manager these days. That’s simply because with all the Civil Service rules, procurement rules, diversity regs and whatnot it’s the contractors who can get anything done in finite time, so they’re the ones who get to do anything while the skills of NASA folks quickly get obsolete.
Given all that, it seems that the government Internet porn filters are getting better so now the employees are entertaining themselves writing enviro porn soap operas and playing politics.
Night Writer on August 19, 2011 at 10:05 am said:
No, no, the aliens are really an evolved form of space-traveling flora that thrives on carbon dioxide and are allergic to ozone. They’ll see our planet as a great new vacation spot and will bring millions of tourism jobs. They also excrete oxygen Unfortunately, their favorite food is caribou from the ANWR.
Seflores on August 19, 2011 at 10:21 am said:
Our unbiased, studiously fair media portrays as a Keeper Of Odd Knowledge any person who says anything positive or perceived as non-negative in re: E-Z Credit Government Loans Create Higher Education & Housing Bubbles; Locking Up Criminals Leads to Lower Crime Rates; Lower Tax Rates Produce More Tax Revenue.
Let Krugman or NASA ‘Scientists’ let loose with hopes of an alien invasion to punish us (USA) for our wicked ways and it’s just another reasonable point of view to consider.
Chuck on August 19, 2011 at 11:05 am said:
I know someone who worked as a civilian in the Pentagon for a while. I can confirm Nerdberts words on what it is like to work for the government. You’d think NASA and the Pentagon would be the exception to loony tune government, but no. He talks about the incredibly high pay for unskilled work. Impossible to fire anyone. The diverstiy quotas. That sort of thing.
Chuck on August 19, 2011 at 11:05 am said:
But hey, if ALF didn’t mind being here, why would other space aliens be upset with out planet.
Terry on August 19, 2011 at 11:46 am said:
Thanks for the link, Golfdoc!: http://bit.ly/r01d31
I don’t think that NASA had much to do with the paper. It’s published by Acta Astronautica, which ain’t exactly on par with Astrophysical Journal.
The paper’s bibliography is a long list of works of pseudo-science and pop-science.
Leslie Hittner on August 19, 2011 at 3:35 pm said:
What is the publication date? April 1st?
bosshoss429 on August 19, 2011 at 3:45 pm said:
Damn! This means that I need to get some bigger speakers and buy some Slim Whitman CDs.
Night Writer on August 19, 2011 at 5:19 pm said:
Leslie, the report is dated April 22, but I think every day is April 1 for that bunch.
Ben on August 20, 2011 at 12:03 am said:
I’m all for jumping on libs but come on guys when the pic at the top of the article is this…
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/8/18/1313690306363/A-scene-from-Mars-Attacks-007.jpg
I think we all need to step back and take a breath. This wasn’t exactly a serious scenario.

Why Liberals Should See (and Like) Atlas Shrugged Part 1

2011-04-29T05:38:00.000-05:00

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-shermer/why-liberals-should-see-a_b_854697.html

Why Liberals Should See (and Like)Atlas Shrugged Part 1

Posted: 04/27/11 09:39 PM ET

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Yesterday a liberal friend of mine told me (in response to my query) that he would never go see the film Atlas Shrugged Part 1 because he read a review in the Los Angeles Times that was critical, and that in any case the author of the novel on which the film is based, Ayn Rand, is a fascist beloved by conservatives because she justifies their greed and selfishness.

In response I made a comment about allowing a newspaper to dictate your opinions (that went unnoticed), but his response is, in fact, not uncommon among those who have never read Atlas Shrugged (or anything else by Ayn Rand) and just go by what they've heard. Okay, well hear it here: go see Atlas Shrugged Part 1, read the novel, and judge for yourself because, in fact, liberals will find much to respect and admire in Ayn Rand, who was a champion of individual rights, was outspoken against racism and bigotry and discrimination against minorities, and most notably was way ahead of her time in championing women's rights and demonstrating through her novels (and now the film) that women are as smart as men, as clever as men, as hard working as men, as ambitious as men, as moral as men (well, okay, more moral than men), and can accomplish any task, achieve any goal, and even run an industrial enterprise as good as if not better than men. What's not to like about that?

Yes, yes, I know, it's not a $100 million production with mega-hit stars, but who cares? Liberals believe that Ideas matter more than eye-candy and that content trumps color (although, for my money, Atlas delivers on both in spades), and in any case the producers should be congratulated for making the equivalent of a $50 million film for only $20 million. So don't let that aspect of the reviews stop you. They're wrong.

There's another reason for liberals to see Atlas Shrugged. The week after the film was released astudy was published showing that Hollywood still discriminates against women when it comes to roles in films, the number and length of speaking parts, and the continued blatant sexuality in which women are still viewed (literally) as sexual objects, showing far more skin than men but speaking far less.

The star of Atlas Shrugged (book and film) is Dagny Taggart (played by Taylor Schilling), who is not only the lead character, but she has the most speaking roles (while showing no more skin than one would expect from a current CEO), runs her own transcontinental railroad enterprise, has no problem dealing with hard-nosed titans of industry who happen to be men, and embodies all the courage and character of a hero deserving of respect and admiration from women and men, liberals and conservatives. In fact, Dagny Taggart is one of the strongest female protagonists in all of Western literature.

From the original text, here is Dagny on running a railroad:

"[Dagny Taggart} was fifteen when it occurred to her for the first time that women did not run railroads and that people might object. To hell with that, she thought- and never worried about it again." (p. 51)

Here is Dagny on thinking for yourself:

"You don't have to see through the eyes of others, hold onto yours, stand on your own judgment, you know that what is, is-say it aloud, like the holiest of prayers, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise." (p. 892)

Here is Dagny the principled optimist:

"I cannot bring myself to abandon to destruction all the greatness of the world, all that which was mine and yours, which was made by us and is still ours by right - because I cannot believe that men can refuse to see....So long as men desire to live, I cannot lose my battle." (p. 809)

Here is Dagny on sex (reflecting on missing her first love, Francisco D'Anconia):

"In the many months of his absence, she never wondered whether he was true to her or not; she knew he was. She knew, even though she was too young to know the reason, that indiscriminate desire and unselective indulgence were possible only to those who regarded sex and themselves as evil." (p. 109)

And contrary to what liberals think about Ayn Rand's attitudes about capitalism, here is Dagny on the morality of free trade:

"If ever the pleasure of one has to be bought by the pain of the other, there better be no trade. A trade by which one gains and the other loses is a fraud." (p. 425)

As for Ayn Rand herself, here is the author on individual rights:

"Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual)."

Here is Rand on slaves and masters:

"It only stands to reason that where there's sacrifice, there's someone collecting the sacrificial offerings. Where there's service, there is someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master."

Here is Rand on racism:

"Racism is the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism. It is the notion of ascribing moral, social or political significance to a man's genetic lineage--the notion that a man's intellectual and characterological traits are produced and transmitted by his internal body chemistry. Which means, in practice, that a man is to be judged, not by his own character and actions, but by the characters and actions of a collective of ancestors."

Here is Rand on racial discrimination during the civil rights movement:

"The policy of the Southern states toward Negroes was and is a shameful contradiction of this country's basic principles. Racial discrimination, imposed and enforced by law, is so blatantly inexcusable an infringement of individual rights that the racist statutes of the South should have been declared unconstitutional long ago."

Here is Rand on women and work:

"What is proper for a man is proper for a woman. The basic principles are the same. I would not attempt to prescribe what kind of work a man should do, and I would not attempt it in regard to women. There is no particular work which is specifically feminine. Women can choose their work according to their own purpose and premises in the same manner as men do."

So...liberals, conservatives, progressives, libertarians, Tea Partiers, and politicos of all stripes -- ignore the reviews and go see Atlas Shrugged for yourself and tell me what you think. Ayn Rand is not who you've heard she is. Read her works, watch the film, and judge for yourself.

Follow Michael Shermer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelshermer

My latest comment on the KDWB radio Hmong parody controversy.

2011-04-16T11:00:00.000-05:00

http://www.minnpost.com/braublog/2011/04/14/27490/blue_cross_minnesota_suspends_kdwb_ads_over_hmong_song#comment_68574

This lame and yes offensive music parody attempt basically "died on the vine" before some "activist" discovered it. (Hint! If you want to do a Hmong parody song start with Rod Steward's "Forever Young", not the Eric Clapton song.)

The protests and publicity might get the "activists" some "news time" but judging from "bar talk" conversations I have people, at least over here in Minneapolis hadn't thought about the Hmong lately before this brewhaha.

The huge numbers of refugee immigrants in the Twin Cities area tends to go "under the radar" but most people sense that this is costing Minnesota a lot of money. This is backed up by a Census report that states that Minnesota has the highest percentage welfare costs in the US. http://www.startribune.com/politics/blogs/112933714.html

Most people tend to think of this in terms of the "Gary,Indiana" welfare magnet idea but our own "lying eyes" also show the refugee immigrant" part of it. These protests of the lame KDWB parody refocused the public perception of the "burden" on the Hmong. (and also other refugee immigrant groups overrepresented here like the Somalis.)

I grew up near the Hmong concentration on the Eastside of St. Paul I still own my late parents house over there. I have observed the Hmong evolution since the beginning.

First the positive. A lot of young Hmong have nice cars. The "welfare Caddilac is a myth, if for no other reason than vehicle titles are check and poor neighbors tend to report the "relatives" nice wheels if you are on public assistance.

The young Hmong have the nice "wheels" because they have good jobs. Good for them!
They generally came from small families and grew up in the US. They have the new immigrant drive to succeed. We should embrace and help them.

On the other hand if you drive by the subsidized housing project just East of Phalen Lake there are plenty of very large family "broods" there. An advanced degree social scientist might not be able to discern that this is a recipe for long-term welfare dependency but the average Minnesotan sure can.

So far the the two ad withdraws from KDWB are Health Partners and Blue Cross. This was basically "public image" advertising. The withdrawal of the ads might be construed as political advocacy, which is prohibited under the tax code with non-profits, which Minnesota health insurance agencies have.

The lame KDWB parody was first off "lame" but it never said it applied to "ALL HMONG". Conceivably these withdraws could be construed by the IRS as "political advocacy". If it got to court it would come out that a disproportional but not all Hmong "fit the parody".

I recall back in the day all the lefties I know celebrated the Larry Flint vs Jerry Falwell satire that was affirmed the US Supreme Court. That satire was not based on factual information of Jerry Falwell's birth.

Porn parody of TSA body search techniques.

2011-04-16T02:47:00.000-05:00

Evan Stone Premiers in His First Directorial Feature TSA – Your Ass is in Our Hands is Coming to DVD April 19th!

(Canoga Park, CA)—Four time AVN Male Performer of the Year award winner, Evan Stone, is about to be devirginized for the first time in a very long time. On April 19th, 2011, Evan Stone gets double billing in the latest Hustler Video flick, TSA – Your Ass is in Our Hands. Stone is not only one of the lead male characters, but this film marks his directorial debut – behind the camera for the very first time!

“In my several years of adult I have seen the transformation of the airline security first hand,” said director of the film, Evan Stone. “Being chosen at random is a regular event for me. I find it funny that the government is allowed to do things that everyone else is not permitted to do—like pat people down by groping their genitals and feeling them up—lucky bastards! This is a story I had to tell and Hustler said they loved the idea and that I should direct it firsthand adding comedy to the film and of course my own personal Evan flair. TSA – Your Ass is in Our Hands is my first director role, and acting roll, and funny roll, and friendly pat down roll.”

Filmed as both a comedy and as a spoof on the Transportation Security Administration, TSA – Your Ass is in Our Hands, takes place at the airport and shows a behind-the-scenes look at how the TSA might really operate if Evan Stone and Hustler Video were in charge. From full frontal strip searches to enforcing passenger safety in the most intimate of ways, TSA – Your Ass is in Our Hands, highlights all of the perks associated with the responsibility of screening the general public and protecting the country.

While TSA Agent Evan Stone has a pre-flight rendezvous with airline stewardess Diamond Kitty, hot and nasty girl-girl action ensues between TSA Agent Loni Evans and potential passenger threat, Briana Banks. Meanwhile, TSA Agent (and porn legend) Randy Spears finds it necessary to strip search airline traveler Tegan Summers, and Samantha Saint unsuccessfully passes an x-ray screening to the pleasure of TSA Agent Bill Bailey, who gets to perform a full cavity search on her. And for those porn viewers who are keen on long, sloppy BJs and a woman who knows what she wants and dictates orders like it’s her job, TSA Agent Amia Miley and unsuspecting passenger Jack Lawrence heat things up for the viewing pleasure of everyone else around, including the security cameras.

“This is a really sexy, silly movie,” said TSA – Your Ass is in Our Hands director, Evan Stone. I think Randy and I are really funny together—we both understand physical comedy—and Amia is hilarious. She really got into her character and had fun with it. Plus, all the girls are just smokin’. You don’t get a cast of girls any hotter than this.”

TSA – Your Ass is in Our Hands will be available on DVD April 19th.

To view the trailer, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd53eoB1WxE

For everything Hustler, visit www.HustlerVideo.com and www.Hustler.com.

Posted in 2011, divorce by: LUKE IS BACK
5 Comments

The 03-08-11 International Women's Day was a flop here.

2011-03-09T10:01:00.000-06:00

Suppose lefties had an event and no one showed up? That happened locally yesterday, Tuesday 03-08-11. The Google banner for the day was customized and clicking on it linked to the 100th anniversary of "International Woman's Day. They had what looked like a Java webpage that said that the location of local events. One was a "hands across rivers" events. Locally, it was the Twin Cities, MN at the LakeStreet/Marshall Av "peace Bride" which have admittedly peaceful demonstrations that started the day of the local Kathleen Ann Soliah/Sara Jane Olson arrest in June 1999.

Read the Star Tribune story on the event and the comment I posted below. (hint: If you are having an event, state the date, don't assume people know this.)

http://www.startribune.com/nation/117615308.html

My posted comment:

Google had a banner today on the event and a link to a page on the gathering here and elsewhere. Nowhere on this page did it say what date these events were supposed to happen. I had to Google a bit to determine that it was for March 08, 2011. ...... One site listed for a gathering on Tuesday afternoon was the Lake Street/Marshall "Peace Bridge". ...... At 4PM Tuesday two people with a homemade sign on the "event". After shopping and seeing the "snow mountain" by the State Capital I headed across the bridge at five minutes to five PM. Two more people with a professionally made banner. Four people is not enough to form a "human chain" across the river. ... (hint: It helps to list the date of an event on a webpage announce an event!)

My comment on an article "will pro-football fade away"

2011-02-05T04:59:00.000-06:00

The boxing "Palooka" and ban on bare-knuckle boxing goes back a century. I recently watched the entire 40 hours box set of the 1980's HBO series "1st and Ten" which frequently dealt with debilitating and crippling injuries in pro-football.

The concept of latent brain injuries like these was not discussed in the HBO series but the idea has rapidly caught on. I've heard it discussed a number of times in commentary during NFL games this year. The case of
local wrestler Verne Gagne has brought more awareness locally so we are ahead of the curve here.

That said, this seems low on the list of threats to pro football. Topping the list is the threat of labor unrest and the US Supreme Court ruling against revenue sharing. http://www.minnpost.com/derekwallbank/2010/05/24/18428/sports_armageddon_supreme_court_issues_landmark_ruling_favoring_vikings_and_individual_teams_over_nfl

I have tried to watch several soccer World Cups including last summers and am convinced that viewing that can cause someone raised on US TV brain damage . I could write an essay on why soccer won't become mainstream entertainment in the US. I watched for World Cup entertainment tie ins in the outer ring suburbs where our local "soccer row" started in the 1980's (and the original "soccer kids" are now adults) and couldn't find anything. Even 1st and Ten" had an episode about pro-soccer and empty stands. (For starters soccer plays something like 45 minutes without a break which does not allow for commercials or instant replays)

By contrast, during this NFL regular season eighteen of the twenty top rated network (and Fox) TV shows were NFL games. The ESPN NFL games also did very well. I heard a figure that the US pro football is an eight billion dollar industry. That is around $25 per capita in the US. More than two thirds is from broadcast rights. Contrast that with gymnastics, which had relatively weak broadcast appeal outside of the Olympics. (the Beijing Olympics were said to be a financial and ratings disaster for NBC.)

Our pro football is also adaptable. Pro football has already instituted rules and tends to be very adaptable. Also, our best and brightest tend to be fans and offer suggestions. People like me also do. My suggestion for late/hard hits. Besides the down and yardage penalty have an immediate game time penalty of five or ten minutes clock time for the hitter if refs make the call. The NFL has a premium "all games" cable/dish option so a "judgement committee" can review the plays and vote on additional team penalties and potential removal of the player from the rest of the game if they deem the charge legitimate. This can easily be done in five minutes of playtime. If I can figure that out the NFL can.

The "legislation through litigation" strategy has never been popular in the polls. The tobacco litigation, is something I consider mostly a "charade" (I quit smoking in the early 1970's) This involves the withholding of
"informed consent" as a legal claim. Heck, if an NFL player tapes or Tivos a game and watches it they will hear discussions on the head injury issues. Union reps and agents should be aware of this and suggest reasonable adaption in the game.

In the early 1970's, before his foray sheltering the Symbionese Liberation Army during the "lost year" Jack Scott" was a very vocal authority on the alleged dangers of college and pro sports. Most athletes he cited in articles and his book "The Athletic Revolution" were deemed "sour grapes" who didn't make the cut by the public.

The public support of the NFL might, in large term be a "backlash" response to the forces of "political correctness" and the Nanny state. This won't go away. Also there is "low hanging fruit" if someone wants to take this on. One prime example is cable wresting. Lot's of alleged brain damage there!

For what it's worth I didn't watch much pro-football until the Brett Farve era of the Vikings. I want our sports gladiators to "live long and prosper". We need creative adaption, not litigation in pro-football rules.

Powerlineblog.com: WHO'S CRAZY?

2010-12-25T03:23:00.001-06:00

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/12/027991.php

This bizarre news story struck me forcefully because the events described took place just a few blocks from my house:

[Rhonda] Arkley's husband, Stuart Arkley, said he was resting in a lower-level bedroom when his wife entered and threw gasoline on him, hurled a lit oil lamp at him and hit him in the head with an exercise weight. ...
The two struggled at the front door as Stuart Arkley attempted to flee and his wife, holding a steak knife, yelled, "I only want to kill myself."
Rhonda Arkley then grabbed a 5-gallon can and spread gasoline around the house, saying, "I don't want anyone else to see this house." He tried to stop her, but she threw more gas on him and lit a piece of paper. He fled out a back window to a neighbor's home and called 911.
When police arrived, they found the home ablaze and Rhonda Arkley in a locked car in the driveway, stabbing her chest with a screwdriver.
Arkley drove off. Eagan police put down stop spikes on Pilot Knob Road near Cliff Road, disabling her vehicle. Officers approached and saw her again stabbing herself in the chest with a screwdriver, using a hammer to drive it in.

The events described are sad, if not tragic. Mrs. Arkley's son had recently died of a heroin overdose. One can only have sympathy for her and her family. It is noteworthy, however, that Mrs. Arkley is not a random Minnesotan--rather, she was the Democratic Party's candidate for the Minnesota Senate in 2002 in District 37, my district. In that race, she received an "A" rating from the National Organization of Women. She is a prominent member of Minnesota's atheist community. And she ison record as believing that Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is "nutty."

That last, of course, is an article of faith among liberals. But the contrast is a striking one: Congresswoman Bachmann is, in fact, a woman of great serenity, substantial professional accomplishment, invariably sunny disposition, and almost unnatural energy; she is the mother of five and foster mother of 23 children. This sad anecdote from my neighborhood illustrates a commonplace of sociology: scratch a conservative and you will almost always find a happy person; scratch a liberal and you are likely to encounter a seething cauldron of disappointment and rage.

AOL JOBS: My Unemployed Life: The Forgotten Woman

2010-11-28T00:53:00.002-06:00

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2010/11/17/my-unemployed-life-the-forgotten-woman/25#comments

MY COMMENT:

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2010/11/17/my-unemployed-life-the-forgotten-woman/?ncid=webmail

I came at this from a different perspective. After a 33 year career, the last 30 years night shift I retired at the end of 2007. Good solid pension, good medical, paid off house and zero debt. I was am and set pretty well.

The first year after retirement I worked in the construction field and was very busy. A lot was my office and computer skills but I was also a "gopher" with a four cylinder "stick" mini-pickup when gas was $4 per gallon. The extra money was nice and but I also got the meet a lot of people who worked in construction.

After the late 2008 economic crash the construction business totally collapsed. I was involved the the non-union remodeling, garage building ect.

part but across the board new work decreased by 75% or more after that.

My work is down to very near zero. People who have worked a long time in the field need the work and the money and I have my pension. Yes, these people will do almost anything legal for money. I got some going in Craigslist repair and resale but even this is crowded.

Even there, the secret is to specialize, know the specific material and market and act very quickly when some lists something at a good price "just to get rid of it" or when it needs certain repairs. I have the time, money and truck so I can jump on these. Even these are becoming more scarce lately.

http://fifthestate.net

Al Gore: U.S. corn ethanol "was not a good policy"

2010-11-22T17:05:00.005-06:00

http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE6AL0YT20101122?sp=true

Redrant: I've read that Al Gore is now invested in cellulistic ethanol so this might be a "crazy as a sex poodle" ploy to pump that investment. Greg Lang

* U.S. ethanol consumes about 40 pct corn crop (?)

ATHENS, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore said support for corn-based ethanol in the United States was "not a good policy", weeks before tax credits are up for renewal. ......

He (Al Gore) explained his own support for the original programme on his presidential ambitions. (READ FULL ARTICLE AT LINK)

Facebook peeks spark asthma attacks in dumped boy.

2010-11-19T03:41:00.001-06:00

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jpuLl5N_ciX9sEQ7xsOk061frUmg?docId=952d4968c7db4221a0878ef5970b0551

LONDON (AP) — Beware unhappy asthmatics: Italian doctors warn that Facebook could trigger an attack in some susceptible users.
Gennaro D'Amato and colleagues treated an 18-year-old man whose asthma attacks were apparently sparked by logging into Facebook and seeing how many men his ex-girlfriend had friended.
The man had been taking two inhaled steroid drugs several times a day to control his asthma. But when his girlfriend dumped him — and worse, unfriended him on Facebook — his condition deteriorated. (MORE AT LINK)

Interesting post I found that tends to reflect my views.

2010-10-16T08:08:00.000-05:00

http://comments.startribune.com/comments.php?d=asset_comments&asset_id=105062649&sort=E&section=/local&start=30

What about the content??

I watched this 'documentary'. It had a lot of big unproveable claims about nitrogen and farming causing damage etc. but very short on actual scientific PROOF of the alleged connection. Don't believe me? Watch the film again, and see how many times they use 'weasel words' to make their claims such as 'it is believed that'... and 'scientists think.. and so on. In watching that film, you would think that every farm in the state is somehow dumping nitrogen right into the river, but few farms are directly adjacent to the Mississippi. Bottom line? This film is suspect in its claims, and Himle was correct in giving pause. Unfortunately, all the 'politically correct' 'green police' types are out in force whining about censorship. The film was not balanced, and it had a slanted viewpoint. End of story.

posted by minn12 on Oct. 15, 10 at 7:03 PM |

What surprised me was the total lack of comments on the film itself after the Sunday theater and Tuesday TV release.

2010-10-09T20:31:00.001-05:00

http://comments.startribune.com/comments.php?d=asset_comments&asset_id=104599514&section=/opinion/editorials

I tend to be in the Global Warming/Climate Change/Global Climate Disruption "deniers"> I have viewed it twice (TPT/taped) and give it a "B+". ...... What amazed me was the lack of comments either in the media or online after the film was actually shown. The sellout early Sunday Theater showing would constitute a "public release" so comments would have been "fair game" even for those who had an advanced screening. .....

I posted a spiel before and after the TPT viewing. It is at my http://FifthEstate.net in case anyone wants to read it. ........

On second viewing I picked up that the captioning was sloppy (when text is white on a white background backmask) and a bit heavy on the plugs for the grass-fed beef. .....I didn't know the status of the "nitrogen detector". Clever device but there may be alternatives. It is either a sniffer or a color detector. Either should work.....

I didn't see it as a "anti-capitalist propaganda film. Perhaps a bit with the "organic" part but most of it suggests very cost effective solutions. I especially liked the tile drain tube "floodgates". Cheap to make. If they reduce nitrogen runoff by 80% that is fertilizer (and aquifer water) not needed. Both cost the farmer money. The high tech stuff looks like it can be cost effective. .....

I have no dog in the federal agriculture fight. .......

As for ethanol it seems a good sop for corn surpluses but a mandate seems stupid. The original ethanol policy was devised when oil was under $20 per barrel and corn was under $2 per bushel. (Them days seem gone). I'll repost this at my http://FifthEstate.com in case the Strib censors are at it.

I wached "Troubled Waters" on TPT Tuesday.

2010-10-06T02:59:00.001-05:00

I was cynical before watching it tonight on TPT. Before viewing I posted this at my http://fifthestate.net

http://fifthestatenet.blogspot.com/2010/10/comments-before-viewing-troubled-waters.html

I was pleasantly surprised when I viewed the film. Overall I would rate it "B+". The negatives might be a few omissions that could have allowed for "fast ones". (As an example did that organic dairy farm have a steady livestock population? Probably but they didn't say).

It was thankfully post "global warming/climate change". With the two adjacent gulleys, one with a tile drain, the other without, the quip that it is hard to blame global warming was appropriate. The other one I caught was the Shakopee tribe representative saying that the grasslands were a "carbon sink". True but it didn't go past there.

Judging from pre-screening comments the film may have undergone some final editing. Specifically the Walker Art Center clip was in the middle and very short.

Back when I went to the U there were tenured professors in their secure jobs proclaiming "money is irrelevant". I sometimes think that many "greens" believed this. (IE: The photo-voltaic projects with a sixty to one-hundred year payback.) Fortunately "Troubled Waters" took the stance that nothing is more relevant than money to this situation. I especially liked the high-tech solutions and the cheap ones like valve plates on the tile drains.

I'll watch it again in a day or two but overall "B+"

I'm cross-posting at my http://fifthestate.net

Comments before viewing "Troubled Waters" today.

2010-10-05T06:22:00.002-05:00

I've followed the controversy online for the last few weeks. I anticipate this will be somewhat better than some of the "PC propaganda" on the more educational cable channels. My all time favorite worst was "life after oil" on the National Geographic Channel.

That said I still think that "Troubled Waters" could backfire in the long run. More after I watch it and tape it tonight but points to consider in advance.

1. The timing of the film. It "just happens" to be a month before elections. What a coincidence!

2. The funding for the film. A lot came from the lottery proceeds. The lottery helped fund the big windmills near Northfield and study of the aquifer in the Karst geological formation. A cursory view of the MN lottery webpage winners shows them to be the "hunting and fishing" types. I'll bet 90% of lottery users believe the money is used for DIRECT wildlife habitat preservation and restoration projects.

3. The opening of the film with the organic farm "plug". Best organics might top worst regular farming but organic typically gets half the yield with output selling at twice the price. The New York Times recently had an article on the Amish being a major polluter of the Chesapeake Bay. The Amish are extremely organic but they tend to have too much livestock for the land and poor basic runoff remediation.

4. As for the big (IE: corporate) farms versus "family farms". We have had almost 40 years of the EPA which tends to go after the largest first. Also, large and corporate can afford the latest technology. Basically, with GPS harvest yields can be mapped down to the square yard or less. When it comes to fertilizer, pesticides and such these can be customized to the same square yard areas. Beyond environmental pressure these chemicals cost money just as gas for your car costs money.

5. Watch for "global warming", "climate change" or anything "carbon" mention. This has turned into a "code word" for a political divide on environmental issues. Heck, Osama Bin Laden just came out against "global warming".

6. The "academic freedom" arguments seem awfully lame to the "public" I have bounced it off of. Most people think that the academic environment is "hyper-political" versus office politics and they don't like office politics. This has been a fourth rate public relations disaster and the academic world claims to be a repository of the best and brightest. Nuff said.

More after I watch the show tonight.

Posted at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, first posting deleted.

2010-05-24T21:30:00.002-05:00

Source:

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/editorials/94778999.html

I worked for Hennepin County in the

1980's when the first MN gay rights

ordinance was passed.

It specifically EXCLUDED domestic

partner benefits as part of the

negotiations to get the bill passed.

As soon it was passed the

Minneapolis Civil Right department

"decreed" that the law included gay

domestic partnership benefits. My

AFSME Council 5 2822 union was

negotiating a new contract. The

wanted to include a very loosely

defined domestic partners benefit in

the contract if it passed legal

muster. ......... Everyone in the

office wanted to know if this is

included financial co-dependence.

Our co-worker union rep was a stand

-up guy (woman) who demanded an

answer. We were told that we would

be subject to "sexual harassment

complaints" if we persisted. It

turned out that it did have this

"suicide by pen" provision. Seems

the City of Minneapolis had eight-

hundred people interested in

domestic partner benefits. When

informed that financial co-

dependence was included 9o0% lost

interest. .......... There was a

group that wanted to legally

challenge the Minneapolis ruling but

they needed a Minneapolis property

owner to file a legal challenge. I

contacted the group. They told me

that they were looking for a retired

homeowner and warned me that I could

encounter substantial workplace

problems if I was the face of the

lawsuit. They got several retiree

Minneapolis homeowners and one was

fronted for the legal challenge.

...... The legal challenge went

first to the MN Court of Appeals and

then by the MN Supreme Court which

basically rejected the domestic

partners interpretation and told the

defendants to "learn how to read".

..... I'm now retired so they can't

hurt me but some of these "gay

advocates" are willing to use "the

ends justify the means" tactics. I

followed the case and cannot recall

any gay group coming forward saying

"this is not what we agree to when

the MN gay rights law was passed".

........ Since then no significant

gay rights legislation has passed in

Minnesota. Go figure! I'll cross

post at my http://fifthestate.net in

case the Star Tribune censors

consider this an "inconvenient

truth".

The Thursday May 6, 2010 record start market drop.

2010-05-06T23:26:00.001-05:00

Anyone else think that George Soros is behind this?

http://comments.startribune.com/comments.php?d=asset_comments&asset_id=93024874&sort=E&section=/business&start=30

The Day of the Blogger: the Fifth Estate Comes into its Own

2010-02-05T10:54:00.000-06:00

http://web.me.com/sinfonia1/Clamour_Of_The_Times/Clamour_Of_The_Times/Entries/2010/2/4_The_Day_of_the_Blogger:_the_Fifth_Estate_Comes_into_its_Own.html

Looks like Tim Nicholson has won his lawsuit in which he argues that belief in climate change is philosophically akin to a religion.

2009-11-05T03:30:00.001-06:00

An interesting outcome from a court case in the UK which I first mentioned a while back:

In a landmark ruling, Mr Justice Michael Burton said that "a belief in man-made climate change ... is capable, if genuinely held, of being a philosophical belief for the purpose of the 2003 Religion and Belief Regulations".
The ruling could open the door for employees to sue their companies for failing to account for their green lifestyles, such as providing recycling facilities or offering low-carbon travel.

I wonder if this will open the door to other "science-based beliefs" such as having to do with GMOs, illegal drugs and so on receiving legal protection. This will be discussed in depth I am sure.

http://rogerpielkejr.blogspot.com/2009/11/is-environmentalism-religion.html

Shades of Marie Antoinette "Let them eat cake?"

2009-09-18T05:48:00.003-05:00

Redrant: Last week I purchased ten pounds of new crop Russet potatoes for US $1.50. Some are small. I steam them along with cheap seasonal vegetables like local twenty-five cent corn on the cob and forty cents per pound local cabbage. The larger russets are bakers.

The point is that this fine locally grown in-season produce is available at a tiny fraction of the cost that the First Lady is paying. You might recall the First Lady planting a White House garden but we don't of the First Family actually eating the produce from this garden. It was fertilized with sewage sludge and contains "heavy metals".

Apparently President Obama still smokes cigarettes. The Marie Antoinette hypocrisy is blatant here. We have $20 per pound kale when we have an official unemployment rate nearing 10%. Link and source article below. Greg Lang

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/17/AR2009091703679_pf.html

Hi-Ho, the Derry-O

By Dana Milbank
Friday, September 18, 2009

Let's say you're preparing dinner and you realize with dismay that you don't have any certified organic Tuscan kale. What to do?

Here's how Michelle Obama handled this very predicament Thursday afternoon:

The Secret Service and the D.C. police brought in three dozen vehicles and shut down H Street, Vermont Avenue, two lanes of I Street and an entrance to the McPherson Square Metro station. They swept the area, in front of the Department of Veterans Affairs, with bomb-sniffing dogs and installed magnetometers in the middle of the street, put up barricades to keep pedestrians out, and took positions with binoculars atop trucks. Though the produce stand was only a block or so from the White House, the first lady hopped into her armored limousine and pulled into the market amid the wail of sirens.

Then, and only then, could Obama purchase her leafy greens. "Now it's time to buy some food," she told several hundred people who came to watch. "Let's shop!"

Cowbells were rung. Somebody put a lei of marigolds around Obama's neck. The first lady picked up a straw basket and headed for the "Farm at Sunnyside" tent, where she loaded up with organic Asian pears, cherry tomatoes, multicolored potatoes, free-range eggs and, yes, two bunches of Tuscan kale. She left the produce with an aide, who paid the cashier as Obama made her way back to the limousine.

There's nothing like the simple pleasures of a farm stand to return us to our agrarian roots.

The first lady had encouraged Freshfarm Markets, the group that runs popular farmers markets in Dupont Circle and elsewhere, to set up near the White House, and she helped get the approvals to shut down Vermont Avenue during rush hour on Thursdays. But the result was quite the opposite of a quaint farmers market. Considering all the logistics, each tomato she purchased had a carbon footprint of several tons.

The promotion of organic and locally grown food, though an admirable cause, is a risky one for the Obamas, because there's a fine line between promoting healthful eating and sounding like a snob. The president, when he was a candidate in 2007, got in trouble in Iowa when he asked a crowd, "Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?" Iowans didn't have a Whole Foods.

For that reason, it's probably just as well that the first lady didn't stop by the Endless Summer Harvest tent yesterday. The Virginia farm had a sign offering "tender baby arugula" -- hydroponically grown, pesticide free -- and $5 for four ounces, which is $20 a pound.

Obama, in her brief speech to the vendors and patrons, handled the affordability issue by pointing out that people who pay with food stamps would get double the coupon value at the market. Even then, though, it's hard to imagine somebody using food stamps to buy what the market offered: $19 bison steak from Gunpowder Bison, organic dandelion greens for $12 per pound from Blueberry Hill Vegetables, the Piedmont Reserve cheese from Everson Dairy at $29 a pound. Rounding out the potential shopping cart: $4 for a piece of "walnut dacquoise" from the Praline Bakery, $9 for a jumbo crab cake at Chris's Marketplace, $8 for a loaf of cranberry-walnut bread and $32 for a bolt of yarn.

The first lady said the market would particularly appeal to federal employees in nearby buildings to "pick up some good stuff for dinner." Yet even they might think twice about spending $3 for a pint of potatoes when potatoes are on sale for 40 cents a pound at Giant. They could get nearly five dozen eggs at Giant for the $5 Obama spent for her dozen.

But whatever the socioeconomics, there can be no doubt that Obama brought some serious attention to her cause. Hundreds of people crowded the market entrance on I Street as police directed pedestrians to alternative subway entrances. Hundreds braved a light rain and gave a hearty cheer when Obama and her entourage took the stage. "I can't imagine there's been a day in the history of our country when people have been more excited about farmers markets," Mayor Adrian Fenty, Obama's warm-up act, told the crowd.

The first lady, in gray slacks and blue sweater, marveled that the people were "so pumped up" despite the rain. "I have never seen so many people so excited about fruits and vegetables!" she said. (Must be the tender baby arugula.)

She spoke of the global reach of her cause: "The first thing world leaders, prime ministers, kings, queens ask me about is the White House garden. And then they ask about Bo."

She spoke of the fuel fed to the world's most powerful man: "I've learned that when my family eats fresh food, healthy food, that it really affects how we feel, how we get through the day . . . whether there's a Cabinet meeting or whether we're just walking the dog."

And she spoke of her own culinary efforts: "There are times when putting together a healthy meal is harder than you might imagine."

Particularly when it involves a soundstage, an interpreter for the deaf, three TV satellite trucks and the closing of part of downtown Washington.

Van Jones and His STORMtroopers Denounced America the Night After 9/11

2009-09-01T00:49:00.000-05:00

http://newsrealblog.com/2009/08/31/van-jones-and-his-stormtroopers-denounced-america-the-night-after-911/

Van Jones and His STORMtroopers Denounced America the Night After 9/11

2009 AUGUST 31

tags: Barack Obama, Glenn Beck Program, National Day of Service,News, Politics, STORM, Van Jones

by Matthew Vadum

President Obama’s green jobs czar Van Jones co-founded the communist group Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM), Glenn Beck said on his TV show Friday.

STORM described itself and its activities as:

“We upheld the Marxist critique of capitalist exploitation. We agree with Lenin’s analysis of the state and the party. And we found inspiration and guidance in the insurgent revolutionary strategies developed by third world revolutionaries like Mao Tse-Tung and Amilcar Cabral.”

The vehemently anti-American group held a vigil in Oakland, California, “mourning the victims of U.S. imperialism around the world” on the night after Sept. 11, 2001. Jones does not appear to have distanced himself from his past communist activities and is now part of the Obama administration’s push to turn Sept. 11 into a National Day of Service focused on the promotion of the radical environmentalist agenda.

The vigil was reported by World Net Daily which excerpted parts of a history of the now-disbanded group. The 2004 document, called “Reclaiming Revolution: history, summation & lessons from the work of Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM),” may be found on an archival site here.

Jones also founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, which joined in the vigil according to an Ella Baker Center press release from 2001. The press release contained this passage that quoted Jones:

Ted Kennedy: 'One of his favorite topics of humor was Chappaquiddick'

2009-08-31T03:27:00.001-05:00

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=M2M2YWQ1ODQwNjZiOGVmZWU3MzQ2MmZmMDk4MWExZGY

Friday, August 28, 2009

'One of his favorite topics of humor was Chappaquiddick' [Mark Hemingway]

Jules Crittenden mentioned on his blog he heard Ed Klein, former foreign editor ofNewsweek and editor-in-chief of The New York Times Magazine, recalling on air that Ted Kennedy liked to joke about Chappaquiddick. It seemed to defy belief, so I listened to theepisode of The Diane Rehm Show in question and sure enough — I've transcribed what Klein told guest host Katy Kay (Here's a link to the audio in WMA format, relevant portion starts at about 30:15):

I don't know if you know this or not, but one of his favorite topics of humor was indeed Chappaquiddick itself. And he would ask people, "have you heard any new jokes about Chappaquiddick?" That is just the most amazing thing. It's not that he didn't feel remorse about the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, but that he still always saw the other side of everything and the ridiculous side of things, too.

EXCUSE ME? If that's true, it makes Kennedy kind of a monster. The odd thing is that if you listen to the whole show, the tone of everyone involved is nauseatingly hagiographic and reverential. Klein apparently let his guard down a bit; after he lets it slip Kennedy liked to joke about the woman he killed you can actually hear in his voice that he's trying to backpedal. The show actually cuts to a break as he's trying to explain himself, and I seriously wonder if it wasn't the producers trying to do Klein a favor. But I'm sorry, there appears to be little to that could explain this. It goes way beyond "you had to be there."

UPDATE: Blogging software was a tad buggy and didn't respond to repeated attempts to fix audio link — it should be fixed now. Also, Ed Morrissey has the audio much more convinently packaged at this YouTube link.

So Coleman will be liable for all of Franken's legal expenses if Coleman loses?

2009-04-18T04:49:00.000-05:00

I will cross post at my http://fifthestate.net

BTW: Do all of you liberal-progressive-democrats who read the DailyKos.com know that in Arabic and Farsi "Kos" is a derogatory term for female private parts, it has four letters, starts with "C" ends with "T" with the third letter between "m" and "p" in the alphabet? Did you know?.......I talked to a guy in a bar last week who claimed the "Coleman will owe" Frankin's legal bills if Coleman loses. This person theorised that Coleman will agree to concede if the legal actions for this are not pursued. (This is called "blackmail".) ....What actually happened was that early in the year a Minneapolis election judge and official was put on the stand and admitted to emails and perhaps some telephone conversations with Coleman's legal team but not Ginzberg. ........This was not included in discovery. Frankens lawyer cited a Minnesota statute and petitioned for financial redress against Coleman's lawyer for incomplete discovery. Reporters asked if they were asking for costs related to the delays cost by Coleman's lawyers Franken's lawyers replied "That is for the judge to decide........Recall first the "Martha Steward rule". It not the offense but the cover up. Ginzberg cooperated fully and gave a detailed explanation quickly, calling it "an honest mistake"......That is the story. Google it!....... I've followed the coverage by those reporters and former reporters covering the trial live and not seems to have mentioned or noticed this "Coleman pays all legal costs if he loses" theory. ...............

I suspect that the law was enacted after the Wellstone/Mondale/Coleman election when resent absentee ballots apparently were not recounted because Coleman's lead was larger than the total number of absentee ballots resent so it was mathematically impossible for Mondale to win. ........ The Coleman win was outside of the mandatory recount parameters. Just an educated guess.......Beyond the fact there was not pattern of obstruction by Coleman's lawyers and they cooperated with this "snafu" when challenged I don't see a pattern of obstruction. The law, as I read it excluded situations where errors were found. That includes this. Also, I can't recall the law ever being applied or it's constitutionality challenged. In the US with civil cases the "loser pays" but election challenges are different from civil law cases.

Part 1 of modern airship writeup.

2009-04-14T03:36:00.000-05:00

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000168 EndHTML:0000007321 StartFragment:0000000471 EndFragment:0000007304

Modern Rigid Airship Technology.

A Modern airship can use all current avionics. The Akron was lost because it used a barometer to determine altitude. A radio altimeter would have prevented this loss. A number of airships flew into storms but standard aviation and marine meteorology can prevent this. The Hindenberg was filled with flammable hydrogen. Modern airships would use helium as a lift gas. Helium has a lift of 62 pound per thousand cubic feet as so call “sea level constants” which are basically low altitude, room temperature and moderate humidity. Think of a 10 x 12 foot bedroom with eight foot ceiling and a very small closet. That is 1,000 cubic feet. Because of the gas volume, airships will never be very fast. Basically, to double the speed, you need eight times the power and thus eight times the fuel consumption. You travel twice as far (airspeed) so, in effect, the “miles per gallon” goes down by a factor of four. The same tends to be true of marine vessels.

There are three basic types of airship, blimps, semi-rigid and rigid. Blimps are blown up somewhat like a balloon. Semi rigid airships traditionally have had a “spine” that extend beyond the gondola. The “Zepplin NT, which, in reality is not that much larger than the Goodyear blimps uses a connected rigid latticework that might be likened to a geodesic dome. Both blimps and semi rigids use “balloonettes” inside the pressurized helium that can be inflated with air to maintain pressure.

A rigid airship has a rigid frame like the zeppelins. Basically, gas envelopes inside hull are “pressure less”. Basically, if you hang a rigid airship in a hanger it will maintain it's shape. This is debatable but rigid is still better for large airships over a million cubic feet.

Compared to the Pre-WWII zeppelins use of helium is the critical difference but weight reduction is also important. A pound of the weight of the airship itself is a pound that can be used for payload or fuels. The older airships used an aluminum alloy for structural girders. A Modern zeppelin would rely heavily on carbon fiber. This and new design technology might reduce the “girder weight” by 50% to 75%. The hull, which is basically an arch design can be “pretense” with kevlar./aramid cord. This is the basic “arch” principle.

The gas envelopes used to be made of canvas cover with cow intestine “goldbeaters skin” or later acetate film stock. The same material technology used in the “plastic-metal” snack food bags, which give very low gas permeability (so the potato chips don't get stale) can be used. Obviously a more robust version can be used but some basic product. I read that the the Goodyear Blimps only purify the helium a couple of times a year. Blimps are pressurized, which increases permeability. Also, the gas cells are much smaller so the ratio of surface area to volume is far higher. A modern zeppelin could go a year, perhaps longer with no significant permeability loss or helium contamination. Basically, the modern zeppelin gas envelopes would weigh a lot less.

These is the outer covering or hull. With a zeppelin we are literally talking about “acres” of “skin” here. The old zeppelins basically used cotton sail canvas with several coats of paint. We have a lot of new, far lighter all weather fabrics. The Metrodome, has a “Teflon” roof more than 25 years old. The “Champion Air” hanger on Cedar between Crosstown and 494 is a fabric exterior. The new Denver airport has a fabric with a 65 year design life. The semi-rigid Zepplin NT has a “skin” close to the space walk space suits. We can make extremely durable “skins” that save a lot of weight. Keep in mind that weight save on the airship is fuel or payload.

As for shape, modern zeppelins will probably have the same basic profile as the Hindenburg. Some “tweaking” perhaps “fatter” but no major changes. For a propulsion system I tend to favor an electric drive system with diesel engines as primary power but diesel fuel turbines as backup power. You could start with proven “off the shelf” components and upgrade later to save weight. My favored drive system is an electric drive with vectored variable pitch propellers, probably six or eight at first with a Hindenburg sized airship. Vectored means that they can be pointed upward for “lift” or the opposite, downward if the airship lets too “light”. Variable pitch means that load and thrust of each unit can be controlled by changing the propeller pitch. For the short term helicopter systems can be used with the design “tweaked” in the future.

For now I would say that the first generation large airships should have six, preferably eight electric drive propeller units for redundancy. This might reduced in the future. I'm pulling numbers out my hat now but lets say that with gas turbines you have 7500 “surge” horsepower. If we figure ten pound of thrust per horsepower (just an educated guess) the zeppelin could take off 75,000 pounds “heavy”. Once in motion the airship would tilt a bit upward but the the “kiting affect” would allow it to operate with this overweight. This takes some fuel but it's relatively efficient. That is a trick to give more weight for fuel and payload.

My next focus is on naval zeppelin operations. More payload tricks here. BTW: Most people think of German Zeppelins in World War I as “bombing London” but the main effort was “Naval” and the German Zeppelins managed to keep the British navy in port during most of WWI. Even then, German used “amphibious zeppelins” to great advantage. Something I figured out but was surprised the WWI Germans also did.

Somali Pirates size US ship.

2009-04-12T23:55:00.001-05:00

I was actually talking to a former Somali pirate a few days ago! “Retired” from it a long time ago, now a Minneapolis cab driver, who drinks beer but I suspect that he maintains contacts in Somalia.
Back five or so years back when he did it the Somali pirates preyed on the locals. Then the Somalis set up an alliance/bribery with the North Koreans and Cubans. The commies harvested far more fish than they said they would so the coastline got very badly over fished. This caused the Somali fisherman to venture farther out into shipping lanes to try to catch fish. The pirates followed and started harassing shipping.
The pirates found this more lucrative than an empty fishing boat (the old piracy when he did it was basically “commandeer the catch” and some valuables on the boat). According to the “pirate emeritus” this turned into an “industry” due to the money of course but also the lack of retaliation.
Over a few more beers I slipped in a few more leading questions and technical details but he stayed in “kabe” so I tend to believe him.
I also assumed he had no malice against us but he had communication potential with the current class of pirates. We also had a lengthy discussions about the capabilities and uses of moder n “flying aircraft carriers” (google it) of you are lazy http://newwars.wordpress.com/2009/02/17/amazing-aircraft-carrier-alternatives-flying-aircraft-carriers/
I’ve studied airships for more than 30 years. Airships can be tendered and refueled by marine ships. They can stay on station for days or even weeks at a time without refueling. Their radar is “look down” and can have “line of sight” radius of hundreds of miles.. The aircraft launch and retrieval was refined even for jets in the 1950’s but you don’t exactly need a “supersonic stealth fighter” airplane to counter a pirate boat, just a “weapons platform”. Heck, a diesel engine biplane would do just fine. Also, with an “air drop” launch an airplane can have a far greater takeoff weight, the equivalent of air-refueling “topping off”.
Our “pirate emeritus” listened intently to the details on this. I might have said that it was very early develop but I was acting sort of “drunk” at the time. Again, a lot of technical questions back and forth so I think he was “pumping me for information”.
An even chance the “flying aircraft carriers” might get back to Somalia and the pirates. If the active Somali pirates get in a “tizzy” over it the US communications eavesdropping will pick up “chatter” on this weapon that is so secret that not even the US government knows about it.
We will see if this is what it takes for a US native to communicate and idea to the US government.

Want to get healthy? Exercise 7 minutes a week

2009-01-29T04:23:00.000-06:00

Want to get healthy? Exercise 7 minutes a week

Last Updated: 2009-01-28 11:48:01 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Michael Kahn

LONDON (Reuters) - Rigorous workouts lasting as little as three minutes may help prevent diabetes by helping control blood sugar, British researchers said on Wednesday.

The findings published in the journal BioMed Central Endocrine Disorders suggest that people unable to meet government guidelines calling for moderate to vigorous exercise several hours per week can still benefit from exercise.

"This is such a brief amount of exercise you can do it without breaking a sweat," said James Timmons, an exercise biologist at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, who led the study.

"You can make just as big as an effect doing this as you can by doing hours and hours of endurance training each week."

Type 2 diabetes, which affects an estimated 246 million adults worldwide and accounts for 6 percent of all global deaths, is a condition in which the body gradually loses the ability to use insulin properly to convert food to energy.

Very strict diet and vigorous, regular and sustained exercise can reverse type 2 diabetes, but this can be difficult for many people. The condition is closely linked to inactivity.

Timmons and his team showed that just seven minutes of exercise each week helped a group of 16 men in their early twenties control their insulin.

The volunteers, who were relatively out of shape but otherwise healthy, rode an exercise bike four times daily in 30 second spurts two days a week.

After two weeks, the young men had a 23 percent improvement in how effectively their body used insulin to clear glucose, or blood sugar, from the blood stream, Timmons said.

The effect appears to last up to 10 days after the last round of exercise, he added in a telephone interview.

"The simple idea is if you are doing tense muscle contractions during sprints or exercise on a bike you really enhance insulin's ability to clear glucose out of the bloodstream," Timmons said.

The findings highlight a way for people who do not have time to work out a few hours each week as recommended to improve their health, he added.

His team did not look for other important benefits to health that come from exercise, such as lowered blood pressure or weight control, but said another study had shown similar benefits to heart function.

But Timmons said getting people to exercise even a little could translate into big savings for health systems that spend hundreds of million of dollars treating diabetes.

A posting on the Canadian medical system I thought I would save here.

2008-10-27T00:57:00.002-05:00

I havn't posted in a while. Here is the link and text.

http://www.topix.net/forum/source/twincities-pioneer-press/TEUUOCT84BEEVJ7R6#c1

A view from a northern neighbour

We have watched with great interest over the past year the on going election process in your beautiful country. We have the social health care system that is being batted around by your Democratic Party and thought you might be interested to hear from someone in British Columbia, Canada where we actually have this system ...

Our health care system in Canada began under the best of intentions ... "Health Care for All" and we have heard many times that most Americans believe our system is an excellent one. DON'T BELIEVE IT AMERICA!!!! Our health care system is collapsing. We are a country of about 30 million people and have a national debt of 720 billion dollars. The growth of this debt has slowed but only at the expense of our health care system, schools, social programs and our military.
In many cases we have to wait up to a year or longer for CAT Scans, up to a year for a specialist appointment and more than a year for surgery. If you are lucky enough to be able to afford it and smart enough to do it you take your problem across the border into the USA and pay for what you need there to ensure you will at least live. Lots of Canadians are doing just that. Our hospitals in British Columbia are dirty, over crowded, understaffed and they can't keep up with the load of patients they have to see. Our Doctors and nurses are worked to the bone and stretched to the limits. You think you are finally going to have that surgery you waited so long for and you get to the hospital only to find out that it was cancelled because the operating rooms could not be staffed. Wards are being closed because of personnel shortages and patients are sleeping in the hallways.
We have the finest doctors and nurses in the world but we are losing more and more of them to other countries where they can receive better pay, be appreciated for their work and have a life with their own families. A lot of them are in America.
Family doctors are a rarity here in Canada now. Clinics are the only way most of us can get care and we often see a different doctor every time.
Our school systems have suffered greatly. If you think you have problems with your public school systems in America just add health care to the list of things that need to be paid for and see what happens. Good programs that we did have are being cut left right and center because of the drain ... our schools are bulging at the seams ... they are overcrowded and under funded ... we simply do not have the money to sustain our social programs. One of our daughters is a special education teachers assistant trained to work in the school systems here. She has four children and is so discouraged by the failing of the system she home schools all of them.
When we started hearing about the social health care system that has been suggested to you in America we decided to warn you all about what the cost will be. If you go down the same road we have here in Canada ALL of you will pay and pay dearly no matter what income level you are. Once you are on the road and like us find it is the hugest money pit ever, how do you try and turn around again? Taxes, taxes and more taxes that never work and as we are middle class Canadians our group is the biggest contributor to the government coppers.
No matter who wins your election America, your country has come a long way. It is an exciting time in your history but remember that voting with your heart is going to hit your wallet hard!
If you want to go the road of public health care and be one of the highest taxed country in the world we will be more than happy to pass that title on to you but you won't like it. Just a view from a Canadian neighbour!

Kindest Regards,
Cam and Linda Vallee
11372 87A Avenue
Delta, British Columbia VAC 3A6

CNBC.com on the McCain VP pick.

2008-08-31T09:41:00.001-05:00

Try watching this first.http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=836384597&play=1
Flipping channels on the kitchen TV I caught the interview less than 10 minutes into the hour. They filled in with more footage and background so it make for a full hour show with commercials. The CNBC "filler' seems useful so it made for a very good one hour show. This is a common, they don't trash the footage after the "first cut" of a shorter feature story.
CNBC repeats their one hour "special reports" frequently so it should be easy for catch. I haven't seem the 12 minute version yet but that should have the essence of it.
From the one hour TV CNBC special. She looks great on TV. She helps on the family Alaskan fishing boat (look like a line net rig) It's not quite "Deadliest Catch" but it is physically demanding work. I'm Sure Sarah Palin could actually "tune up" and engine or do other mechanical repairs. This is necessary on the fishing boats.
Next off, in interviews she seemed "sharp as a tack" and gave good answers in a second. She seemed an excellent public speaker who knows her subjects in depth.
For me, the important thing is that she seemed, in the CNBC interview to have an extremely good knowledge of energy, especially, the production side. Before this I felt that the major party political candidates were oblivious to the effects of higher energy costs. They mentioned them but they seemed small in the scale of their lives. Sarah Palen noted that in Alaska Gasoline and other fuels cost $5 in Urban centers and often $10 or more per gallon in more remote areas so Alaskans are way ahead on cost motivated conservation. Basicaly, she "feels our pain" on high energy costs.
This is important. As a personal example I now use under three gallons of gasoline per week so higher gas prices only cost me ten or twenty dollars a month. Obviously I can afford this (so what's the problem?) The problem is of course that many people drive a lot more starters and I constantly hear them say how it's "killing them". I must also heat http://searshouse.com this winter. It's pretty "tight" with and ultra high efficiency furnace but I figure my natural gas bills will be 50% higher. Also, prices for basics are up. My "must have" food is http://aldi.com oat bran bread. The one and price loaves are up 25%. Again at Aldi's I notice that canned tuna in oil is a dime more than canned tuna in water. Corn oil now costs more than Canola Oil even with Canola being a "poor persons Olive Oil" nutritionally. Let's not even mention meat costs!
I can afford it but I'm "street" enough to see how this is affecting people. Sarah Palin seems to comprehend this (IE the diesel for the family fishing boat is obviously getting far more costly in the last few years.)
Finally, a candidate who understand this and "feels our pain". (at the "pump"!) Sometimes instead of the "forest" you need to see the "trees".
I'll admit I knew little of Sarah Palin before this. I recall that beauty contest picture (which, for some reason reminds me of the TV show "Happy Days" though I can't find an internet reference). I was rooting for our Minnesota Governor Tim Palenty. I still think he would have made a fine choice. He is a known local who I have strong support for. (root for the home team!)
If John McCain anticipated the energy price situation when he started to considering Sarah Palen in February as the mainstream media now reports it was brilliant!
Cross posted to my http://excel08.com http://fourfiftygas.com and my http://fifthestate.net

I watched Hillary /clinton's speech last night.

2008-08-27T02:30:00.000-05:00

I watched Hillary Clinton’s speech Tuesday night. Not a single “umm” “err” or “aww” they things that made her look “dumb” in the earlier campaign. I have complex theories about this but if Hillary had learned public skill earlier it might have made a difference. I specifically cite here pseudo announcement to run where, with other speakers before her and the knowledge that she would be asked to speak she did the “umm” “Err” “I’m in ---it, to -----win ----it”. This does not seem like the public speaking pattern of a leader.
That contrasted to Obama being a superb public speaker. I believe that that was the decisive factor for the voters, who don’t follow the campaign nuances closely.
One very interesting group is female Hillary Clinton supporters who are older or lower on the economic “totem pole”. From “street” they have a strongly negative view of Barak Obama. They tend to have had strong negative dealing with black males “from the hood” and they tend to associate this with Barak Obama’s inner city “hood” connections (IE his pastor Jeremiah Wright). I ask them what they think of Tiger Woods and Tiger having a blonde wife. They have no objection to that, the like Tiger so it’s not pure racism. This is a statistically large group both male and female. They don’t care that Obama is black and give as a plus that he has a black wife but don’t like that he seems way to “hood” Sort of like “Tupac”
Also these women are seriously affected by energy costs and they don’t buy the democratic/Nancy Pelosi/T Boone Pickens/Al Gore energy spiel. They don’t understand it but it is costing and they seemed to have noticed that energy prices have gone down since President Bush’s executive order on offshore drilling and how Nancy Pelosi and the democrats have seemed to be doing catch up.
I know energy quite well and love describing it. It was rare before now that women would more than tolerate this. Now they want to know about it.
This is a great opportunity for this large group of undecided voters.

Comments on a $300 vacine the government is trying to mandate.

2008-07-10T06:48:00.001-05:00

Last I heard the wholesale cost of the vaccine was $300 for a three shot regime. I'm amazed no one in the media had picked up on this. Hello! $300. Also, this pharm company has allegedly hired a number of people who had worked for elected officials proposing mandatory use of this. This same pharm company has allegedly given a lot of money to legacy "feminist" organizations who "just happen" to support the $300 wholesale cost vaccine.
I have not heard one peep out of the mainstream media about the $300 price which I noticed right off the bat. If it's legitimated research and testing costs put the card on the table. If it's for unusual future legal costs this is a warning sign that the $300 vaccines is dangerous. If it an "alleged" "pump and gouge" that should be aggressively noted.
In the lefty movie "Children of Men" (where in the "extras comments an actress attributed the Tsunami to "global warming") women couldn't stop having live births after something 2009. I figured a flawed "bird flu" vaccine but this might work in a fictional scenario where some force would want to take over the US indigenous fertility.
I don't consider this even a dry run of that but look at who didn't even blink an eye at the $300 cost.
Did I mention that there charging $300 for it and they are trying to get the US government to mandate it.
To paraphrase the feminist "What part of $300 don't you understand?".
I'll try posting this on my http://fifthestate.net

Bar smoking ban protest.

2008-02-12T05:53:00.000-06:00

http://anti-strib.blogspot.com/2008/02/time-to-join-actors-union.html#links
Not so fast! While there may ultimately be a way to close this legal loophole the fine art of "political theater" has long been used by the left even though the cause has little chance of being enacted. As an example look at the Code Pink wannabes who protest every Wednesday on the Minneapolis Lake Street Bridge. The left overuses political theater so it's relatively meaningless for their causes but a lot of people are really angry about the bar smoking ban. I am among them though I haven't smoked in 35 years.
Politically, this matters because in this and most close elections it's the "undecided" voters that really matter. A large percentage of people are really mad at the bar smoking ban. Governor Palenty has given a sliver of hope with his rejection of an increase in the "health assessment fee/tax" increase on cigarettes. Senate candidate Mike Ceresi made his fortune primarily on the MN tobacco litigation. Ceresi's law firm insisted on getting all their settlement money "front end". The MN settlement also provided PUBLIC MONEY FOR POLITICAL ADVOCACY that led to the MN smoking ban. As they say in theater, "All's fair in love and war (and politics). There are a lot of PO'd smoking barflies out there. These are called "undecided voters".
Anyway, two hours ago I got diverted into the smoking ban protest. I checked and to my surprise "FreedomToAct.com" was available so I chipped $7 into the cause and registered it. It might take a day for it come up so if http://freedomtoact.com doesn't work try http://artmn.com It's worth checking out and worth promoting.
Right now I'm supposed to be working on a website to help provide school supplies for one children in one of the most dangerous places in the world. (Note I am here in a "good" Minneapolis community, not in that hellhole. Actually, my friend and writing associate did some early volunteer work there, helped setup some self-help programs that have done well in the last 35 or 40 years. My friend who is now "rich, influential and famous" wants me to set up websites on the operations. And set up a website for my friend linking them all. I explained how to do this to my friend and promised we would tackle it after I retired. That is now. I first have to relearn Front Page Web design
Anyway, I made the mistake of taking a break and checking anti-strib. This subject came up. Two hours later here is the framework for an extended anti-smoking ban protest, just in time for the election.
Check out http://freedomtoact.com same as http://artmn.com

2008-02-09T04:42:00.000-06:00

The irony is that music did change thing politically but to the right. I tend to get emails from people in Eastern Europe, some who come here because they got on the net and found that I knew Bob Dylan, if only calually from living twelve years in Dinkeytown.
In Eastern Europe under communism the opposistion was not allowed to use the "mainsteam media". Oppsition, make that "anti-communist" did have an ability to communicate a lot, often with enuendo, via live gatherings. Religion was one venue, thus the status, confusing to us of the late John Paul having near "rock star" status". Bob Dylan was revered by the "conservative activists" because he pulled it off with a really bad singing voice. A lot of anti-communists figured that they could do that and they could. Some are high ranking elected officials in post communist Eastern Europe.
The point is that music and musicians played a key roll in defeating communism, especially in Eastern Europe. As the old saying goes "nature hates a vacuum." The far left views are already way overrepresented in the mainstream media. You don't need vapid lefty musicians to repeat them. No vacuum.
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/tracyeberly/4492670130214033223/

New posting on my Soliah.com

2008-02-05T04:12:00.001-06:00

02-05-08 Drudge Report: “In Berkeley, push to rescind letter to Marines”. Click here
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=berkley+soliah+resolution Before this the Berkeley City Council had passed a resolution in support of the allegedly gay Telletubbie “Tinkie Winkie” so this seemed like a “slam dunk”. It was publicized by the “Solah in Context” and here at Soliah.com and the media picked it up. To review the “fray” go to http://presslord.com/1999-2000.htm and search “Berkeley” Here is a “gem”
11-13 (2000) New Berkeley City Council vote November 14 (items #39 and #40). To brush up on the SLA that Soliah/Olson chose to become an "associate" of you may wish to review the condemnation of the SLA's assassination of Marcus Foster by the premier leftist magazine of the time Ramparts, based in Berkeley "Ramparts Magazine". To view the Ramparts article condemning the SLA for the Foster assassination click here . To learn about Marcus Foster read from his own book Making Schools Work ( I suggest the final chapter final chapter dealing with Oakland schools or the forward by Alex Hailey.

Clueless Jocks and it looks like I won.

2008-02-04T04:05:00.000-06:00

"Tom Petty, the halftime show, is up next. NFL Network analyst Terrel Davis says he’s never heard of Tom Petty. Ugh."

After next Sunday's pro-bowl someone should sit "superjock" Terrel Davis down and have him watch the half-time show. He will no doubt say "Yes I know these songs". I watched the Super-bowl haltime show. It was good as was our Minneapolis Prince last year. With the Tom Petty show not much wory about the crotch grabbing, pediphelia support promotion, obscenties and "wardrobe malfunctions" found in a certain past superbowl halftime shows. It's intersting how this has become "mainstream". Tom Petty's "I won't back down" has got me through a lot of tough times." http://youtube.com/watch?v=ofwPKcnEOdE BTW: I have stood before the "Gates of Hell". It was on exiit at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts maybe 25 years ago.

A moment of silence is in order. 34 years ago Patricia Hearst was kidnapped by the symbionese Liberation Army. My posting on my http://soliah.com

02-04-08 February 04, 1974 Patricia Hearst is kidnapped by the SLA
Here is the description of the Hearst kidnapping from “Voices of Guns” click here

New posting on my Soliah.com

2008-02-01T07:13:00.000-06:00

02-01-08 Newspaper mogul’s palatial compound remains country’s pre-eminent castle. Click here
A lot of good background info on the Hearst Castle.
The entrance fees were raised around 50% a few years back. It will not affect those making a “pilgrimage” as I hope to do someday, but it might deter repeat visitors.
As to the blast there the article states “And more visible. On Feb. 12, 1976, while Patty Hearst was on trial in Los Angeles in connection with her involvement with the Symbionese Liberation Army, a terrorist group called the New World Liberation Front bombed the balcony of one of the guest houses, causing about $1 million in damage.”
There were some reports placing Soliah/Olson in the area and someone who looked like James Kilgore at the site blast just before the explosion. If so, provisions of the Patriot Act override the statute of limitations so this can still be prosecuted. I have heard conflicting claims about weather Soliah and Kilgore were involved. One detail I heard was that the bomber “left a fecal deposit” as a statement. This was apparently cleaned up but such a “fecal deposit” today would be a prime source of usable DNA that would get someone convicted. The evidence cache should be reviewed for DNA evidence with the two prime suspects still in prison. It would become a “dumb criminal” classic if the perp were convicted because they decided to “make a statement” by “pooping”.

New posting on my Soliah.com

2008-02-01T06:25:00.000-06:00

http://soliah.com Ahemm! Here I am defending the Symbionese Liberation Army against accusations of something they didn't do. Go figure!

01-31-08 AmericanThinker.com: The Terror Scare? By J.R. Dunn. Click Here
Error: “the Nyack cops shot by the SLA, and so on?”
“Nyack” refers to the Brinks Robbery in Nyack, (Actually Nanuet) New York carried out in 1981 by members of the Weather Underground and the BLACK Liberation Army. The Symbionese Liberation Army had nothing to do with it. Here is a Wikipedia primer on the 1981 Brinks Robbery. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brinks_robbery_(1981)

I tried posting this but I don't think it took.

2008-02-01T06:22:00.000-06:00

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/Oscars2008/comments?type=story&id=4223380
If the video is real it will get out on the internet. I't amazing that these "tell all" show prefer subjective interpretation to "the smoking gun". This happened here in Minneapolis with the Andrew Cunanen case. The mainstream media could not bring themselve to even say that Andrew Cunanen was "gay" though they described several of his lovers with obviously male male names. (hint: 2 +2 =4). The Twin Cities gay press was mocking the mainstream media for not reporting on the drug use of Cunanen and his ilk.
Same here. Apparently this "gay icon" was really straight with a gay type drug problem. The video shows this drug problem "straight from the horses mouth". Why not show it?

2008-01-30T02:10:00.000-06:00

I've owned fifthestate.net since 1999. The concept of "fifth estate" goes back to the French Revolution and the "Three Estates". The Print press or media were considered the "Fourth Estate". The Fifth Estate was considered the electronic media but also the early alternative media. The electronic media has, to a large extent become the mainstream media so the new "Fifth Estate" is the internet. Here is my old fifthestae.net page that explains this. http://ocrscans.homestead.com/ fi...fifthesate.htmlAs for my new fifthestate.net it's basically a depository for my "musings" such as this.

2008-01-29T05:40:00.000-06:00

I caught some on the moderated trashing of "Hillbilly Clinton". members.

.

The point is that most people who were on the panel are "Kennedy groupies" (in a non-sexual way) It's interesting that the Kennedy family endorsement seemed to coincide with this. I don't think the Kennedy endorsement will have a significant effect on the primary voters. Instead it may provide a structure from the high end of the MSM for ending their slavish support of the Clintons, which now manifests itself with the HillBilly Clinton co-presidency campaign. The top end MSM people want to change society, leave a legacy. A woman president might be one but instead they get the "Hillbilly Clinton" co-presidency concept. Barack Obama is very impressive in a lot of areas like public speaking. By contrast we see that the "Hill" side of the potential co-presidency was touted as "the world's smartest woman" but her speeches are loaded with "umm!, err! ahh!".
Also posted at my http://fifthestate.net/

2008-01-28T05:46:00.000-06:00

Lady Logician wrote: "Greg - the other thing you can do is train dogs (herding dogs work best at this) to clear golf courses of geese. It is seasonal work but border collies love this kind of work because it involves walking around with their people and chasing birds. Life is good!"
I saw a report on this a few years back on KSTP-TV "On the Road". Not a bad idea but it seems a post retirement form of work. Nothing wrong with that and it could be "fun" zipping around golf courses with a herding dog.
To make the "big" money on something it has to be something hard to duplicate or you have to be one of the first. Eventually golf courses will figure out that a lot of retiree types can an will do this. A good potential supplemental income but to make a full living at it you would need to be the equivalent of a "trick shot" that gave demos and training to golf courses. If I was to do this I would first set up a website with a lot of information on "goose herding" (for lack of a better term). I just checked and "Goosehound.com" is taken, apparently the name of a band. My "show" would consist of going to different areas and having training seminars first for local "goose herders" bringing in a few very adept dogs. Have "exhibitions open to golf club members and ones to the public. Out in the ex-urbs a lot of people take those huge lawns very seriously so seminars on how to "herd geese" could be very popular. (try this at home with Fido").
It could be fun and potentially financially rewarding for a retired couple who likes to travel around in motor home. I say this because it would basically be a two person operation. (Note, this is an example of what I referred to before as "bare bones" proposal writing.)
Not for me, I am basically a "homebody". I could basically be an expert or authority on this. As a potential home based business. No one actually invented "goose herding". I grew up on a lake and as a kid we would often have flocks of ducks in the backyard. This was in the 1960's, which was "pree-geese" but we would have great fun "siccing" the dogs on the ducks in the yard. The KSTP story showed someone making some money off of it but as far as i can tell no one has done a business model. On a lark I checked and http://gooseherder.com was available so I just did a $7 "hedge" and registered it for a year. There is a potential business model to be developed here and I could do it almost exclusively from home. On the speculative angle if I did the basic model and the term "goose Herder" take off (being first counts a lot in these things). I could always sell the domain name and the "franchise". (water cooler test: bounce "Goose herder of people, they probably won't get it because a "herder is a protector" then mention the concept of "herding away" geese. See if they "get" that.
I may wake up tomorrow morning and think that registering gooseherder.com was my dumbest idea ever. If so I'm out $7. In my domian "business" I have over 100 domains (ever wonder who owns "cellphonewoman.com","telephonewoman.com", "cellphonegirl.com", "telephonegirl.com" and "hottoddy.com"? One guess!) I register and sell but at the present time I figure this business is $500 in the red each year. I'd prefer a profit but my long term plan is to make up "business models" for each of the domains (It would help if I didn't post here so much) Take "cellphonewoman.com" It could be a plan for marketing a certain cellphone to women. In advertising you have to "distinguish" your product.
Anyway, to use gooseherder.com as a potential first off, look to see if the field is already "well plowed". These are like the "hot stocks" that are usually "cold" by the time news gets public. In the case of "gooseherder.com" I first did a bit of internet research and found that there was no great "body of knowledge" out there. The other night on CNBC I saw a profile of the guy behind this Autumn "corn mazes" It's an variation of the 19th Century British "shrub maze" He grew one with corn and it became popular where people would pay to walk through it like "rat maze". He is now a millionaire from this. You could build one of your own if you wanted to but he offers consulting and promotion for a few percent of ticket revenue. He took an idea that was out there and developed it. A big part is having the right Internet presence and the right promotion. Corn mazes are "fun" Halloween stories. The point is that this guy took an idea out there and made the right Internet era business model.
As for the multi-level marketing BS it is inherently inefficient. Maybe a decade ago I was reading Consumer Reports and where they tested "hand" dishwashing detergents. The "bargain stuff" was "weak" but major brands did fine. Major brands tended to cost around $2.50 per quart. The Amway band matched the major brands but it was $6 per quart. That's the "nub". Most of the multi-level products are very costly compared to what you can get at a "big box" store or online now.
Multi-level isn't always bad. Some people swear by Tupperware but it's pricey. I cherish Tupperware when I can find it at garage or estate sales but I don't buy it new. To pricey. My former next door neighbor used to do day care and Avon. A lot of "working woman" like to "put on their face" , as they state it, and they like makeup consistency. Avon does that well.
It goes downhill quickly after that. Let's just say "Mary Kay".
Anyway, a lot of opportunities out there. You just have to take the initiative and seek "unplowed ground" to "plow".

2008-01-26T05:10:00.000-06:00

Hmm! 2005 and the guys in the shop said it's time to get rid of it? I bought a new 2005 Ford Ranger 4x2 2.4 liter 5 speed stick. Zero defect, zero repairs. The only problem is that a couple of times a year the radio loses it's memory. It takes me five or ten minutes to reprogram. No big deal. It cost $12K drive away with AC and a bed liner. It gets a solid 20MPG summer and winter and a solid 22MPG fall and spring (when you aren't dealing with cold or AC). I lack Tracy's "conspicuous consumption" wealth so the good mileage is helpful. My gasoline cost is low but I like to drive without thinking about the fuel costs too much.
The first thing to consider is that if you plan to keep a new vehicle is to figure that at over five year ownership the cost of unleaded regular will average at least $4 per gallon. If high when you go to trade it will affect resale negatively and good gas mileage doesn't seem to harm resale even when gas is cheap because the used vehicle buyer. Used car buyers tend to have less money and nowadays you can buy a calculator at a dollar store. Used car buyers have always liked "gas sippers". over "gas guzzlers". Again, figure $4 per gallon gas.
There is a huge glut of new "gas guzzler" vehicles out there compared to demand. When car sale people see a "conspicuous consumption" person like Traci walk in I can imagine them thinking "Thanksgiving is coming early this year." When everyone is struggling with high fuel prices potential clients will see "gas guzzlers" as waste, not affluence.
As for the Japanese Vehicles during last winters bad cold snap I noticed that most of the vehicles with mechanical problems were "rice burners" five years or older. Japanese has a temperate climate and they export most cars after three years. mostly to warmer or coastal climates so I wonder if their engineers really understand the cold.

2008-01-25T06:30:00.000-06:00

It's a bad Omen when you start a blog and and can't source the material that you are commening on but here goes: A few days back I read a comment in favor of extensions of unemployment benifits. The logic was that if people realise that thier unemployment benifits are about to end their "consumer confidence" may drop and they will reduce their spending.

To that I say "Like duhh!!!". When I was younger I people around me would lose their jobs from time to time. Some would decide this was a good time to take that vacation. If they got in a jam later and wanted to "borrow" some money my sympathy level was greatly reduced.

Losing a job is a lot like the electricity going out. It usually come back on soon but you assume the worst and strategize carefully before opening the refrigerator or freezer doors. I have since gotten a backup generator (actually two). I have never had to actually use them in a home power outage but they are a lot like "money in the bank". A crude analogy but when you are unemplyed you should immediately try to reduce spending as much as possible.

Welcome to FifthEstate.net first post.

2008-01-09T23:28:00.000-06:00

In the French Revolution there were the three estates. I recall they were the religion, nobility and the third was everyone else. The "Forth Estate" came to refer to the "Press", which we would now refer to as the "media" or "mainstream media" or "mass media".

There is no official definition of the "Fifth Estate" but it generally is thought to to refer the modern version of "pamphlateering" (sp). This is not new. Soon after the Gutenberg Press, during down time, "seditious" sheets were printed. In the early American Revolution the key factor was ownership of a press.

Technology and economies of scale tended to favor the larger, more centralised news organisations. That said, "Nature hates a vacuum". This gave way to the "rags' and the "Counterculture" alternative publications. I used to own the domain name "fifthestate.org". I gave it to the oldest anarchist newspaper "The Fifth Estate".

That was "dead tree". Probably the first major "fifth estate" use of the Internet. probably the oldest use of the Internet in a high profile situation was "The vast right wing conspiracy" cited by Hillary Clinton after President Clinton's "issues" with Monica Lewinski and the dress"stain".

What actually happened was that the Clinton administrations discovered that all of the assorted conservative "rags" were also posting their material on Internet newsgroup so they had a permanence and worldwide distribution. The Clinton administration envisioned the British" "Yellow' press plucking stories off the Internet writing stories that legitimised them to the American mass media.

The conservatives using the newsgroups saw it as a "distribution channel". The stories in the "rags" would not "die on the vine" as happens a lot with what might be called "small press".

I wasn't part of this but I believe that I understand the basics of it. I do own "fifthestate.net", which could arguably could arguably be the
logical domain of the electronic "revolution". Perhaps my spiels would be better named http://mytwocentsworth.com/ but that is taken.